Youth leaders Wivan and Salla identified that many Finnish students in schools and universities lacked exposure to Special Olympics activities and sports. Aiming to raise general awareness and familiarity with Special Olympics, especially Unified Sports, they embedded spaces for students to get involved through presentations and tour planning opportunities.

One of the key components of Wivan and Salla’s project, Unified Future, was cultivating long-term involvement in Special Olympics. By sharing knowledge about Special Olympics, they targeted the potentiality for more athletes, partners, and volunteers to engage in Finland’s Special Olympics program. After the conclusion of their tours, they created a video based on the lectures for the project, continuing to share knowledge and inspire more students to become involved.
Wivan and Salla’s project came to fruition through the excitement of seeing others join Special Olympics Unified Sports.
The Unified Future project consisted of two components. The first focused on increasing the visibility of Special Olympics through the Para School Day Tour, an initiative organized by the Finnish Paralympic Committee to raise awareness of para sports among primary school students. While the tour provides opportunities for students to learn about para sports and hear from athletes, Special Olympics has historically had limited representation. Through presentations and discussions, Youth Leaders Wivan and Salla educated students about Special Olympics, including the distinctions between Special Olympics and the Paralympic movement.

The second component involved visits to Finnish universities to recruit and inspire new Unified Partners to participate in Special Olympics activities. At the University of Jyväskylä, students were actively engaged in planning one of the tour days, creating a hands-on opportunity to learn about inclusion and Unified Sports.
The tours successfully introduced Special Olympics and Unified Sports to around 100 students, emphasizing inclusion and the steps to getting involved. The lectures were meaningful and eye-opening, receiving direct engagement from students. Wivan and Salla directly planted the seeds for a new generation of students to continue participating in Special Olympics, with 1 new Unified School and 2 new youth leaders joining the program.
Through their project, Wivan and Salla note that they improved their presentation, communication, and team-work skills, having to plan and execute their project. Both partners expressed how proud they felt seeing each other present in front of such large audiences. After their presentations, they received good feedback from students, attaining new knowledge and experience on making impacts within their communities.